


A World Ago, Tonight

by lindsey_grissom



Series: Crystal Heart [16]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-21
Updated: 2010-01-21
Packaged: 2017-10-10 15:37:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/101353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lindsey_grissom/pseuds/lindsey_grissom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Jack meets his namesake; it changes everything.  It changes nothing.</i>  Part of the <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/series/3978">Crystal Heart</a> 'Verse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A World Ago, Tonight

It is almost perfect, the height of the Cardiff blitz, two men together in a time that would condemn them; a war time romance, not his first, but oh so special.

And he knows that Ianto is waiting for him in the twenty-first century, worrying and searching hard for a way to bring Tosh and he back. But he isn't there yet.

He is here, with _the_ Jack Harkness, the Captain James chose for him so very long ago, and he's playing James Harper again, and there's a Jack and James together again, as Captains like he always promised there would be.

Except he should be Jack, and his James is nowhere near, but the similarities keep pulling at him and scratching those old wounds he never could heal.

Here is the man he was named for, who has only one night left, who looks so heartbreakingly similar.

And it's right, but wrong, and it's bittersweet with all the memories assailing him and the feel of hot breath on his cheek.

The music turns haunting and he is sure that's just in his head, because the man in his arms doesn't seem to feel the change, and he's feeling honest enough now to admit he probably isn't taking that much of his attention away.

Everyone is watching, and it's probably part of the magic of the night that none of them are trying to pull them apart. He can't remember if this is illegal or just frowned upon, and truly, right now, if this Captain doesn't care, then he sure doesn't.

And it's funny but it's not, that he isn't really as lost in this as Tosh thinks he is, so he's thinking about everything and nothing and he pulls the Captain closer, because he remembers this time, and he keeps seeing his James and this man will die in the morning after saving his men, and then years in the future his name will be picked out in an ancient tome.

He thought himself long since disbelieving of fate and destiny, but he knows the Universe loves a joke, and there's probably very little else that's funnier.

One night, but he'll have to leave and he's already regretting that because he really does love this time period, he's just not sure why anymore. It's not the fighting and the wars, he saw too many of those before he even became a man. It could be that through everything, these humans have hope, and can still manage to dance and sing and love while their town crumbles around them. Of course, it could be that he met the Doctor in this time, that he danced with Rose here.

He doesn't know, and he barely even cares for the why of it. He lets his feet find the steps and his body flow into the moves, and he holds his Captain close and wonders at the words he can hear.

If he is an angel, he definitely fell to Earth, and sometimes he doubts he'll ever be allowed to leave it again.

At times like this, he isn't sure he even wants to.

 

**End.**


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